Ethiopia’s government has admitted federal troops fired at detained United Nations workers within the conflict-hit Tigray region, blaming the team for trying to succeed in areas where “they weren’t alleged to go.”
The comments by Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the Ethiopian government’s task force for Tigray, came as humanitarian agencies on Tuesday reiterated urgent involves immediate access to the northern region, warning of an “increasingly critical” situation quite every week after the UN announced a affect the govt to permit in desperately needed food and other aid.
Redwan told reporters the UN staffers “broke” two checkpoints and were trying to travel through a 3rd once they were fired upon. He said the staffers have since been released.
In ny , UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there have been four people within the convoy. “They were trying to quite do an assessment of of roads before, obviously, and this must be done before a bigger UN aid convoys enter .”
Following months of rising tensions, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on November 4 ordered a ground and air offensive into Tigray in response to alleged attacks by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces on federal military camps there.
Since then, aid-laden lorries have waited at the borders of Tigray, a neighborhood of six million people, whilst warnings became increasingly dire about the shortage of food, fuel, clean water, cash and other necessities.
Abiy declared victory in Tigray on November 28 after the military seized the regional capital, Mekelle. On Monday, however, he said efforts were continuing to revive order, amid continued fighting and lawlessness that’s hampering relief efforts.
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